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Signs of oil deposits in the country had been found in
the mid 1930s but for various reasons, including W.W.2, they hadn’t been exploited.
Exploration licences were granted in 1955 and the drilling started, mainly
inland from the Gulf
of Sirte. Test bores
were sunk in very remote areas and trucks like this one were brought in to
transport the rigs and all the equipment needed. To drill a bore you needed
lots of water to mix the mud required to cool the drill bits. Bores were
sunk to find the water but of course to do that you needed the water in the
first place and so it was trucked in. To meet one of these beasts coming at
you, at full speed, on a narrow track certainly made you sit up and take
notice. Taking to the edge of the track could be a worrying option as there
would often be notice boards proclaiming Achtung. Minen or Warning.
Mine Field. They weren’t
there for decoration, mines were still live, and today the oil industry
spends vast amounts of money on the safety of its workers, clearing such
dangers.
If you just happened to be passing one of these
locations there was always a welcome and liquid refreshment or food if required.
The menus cooked up in the air-conditioned cabins were planned by Parisian
chefs, so of course a bite to eat was always welcome. Oil in substantial
quantities was found in 1959 and further explorations located many more oil
fields right across the country. A large field was located in the west in
the region of the afore mentioned Ghadames, and that stretched underground
into Algeria.
Today, Libya
is possibly the world’s biggest area of untapped oil resources
One of the big discoveries during the exploration
period was the existence of massive aquifers of limitless supplies of
crystal clear fresh water. Water was a problem in Tripoli and similar towns, the quality
was dire. Leave a glass over night and in the morning there would be a deep
sediment in the bottom with the possibility of things wriggling about in
it, and this was despite heavy chlorination. We received tins of powder to
further purify the water but, in my unit’s case, we had to use it to scrub
our webbing to bleached white on the whim of some local bullsh***ing idiot
of an officer and gentleman. This fresh water supply needed to be available
in the cities and so a mammoth undertaking was started to pipe the water
from the deep south of the desert out to the inhabited areas. Known as the
Man Made River Project it became operational in the nineties and has not
only improved water for the inhabitants but also allowed the expansion of
the agricultural industry, increasing the areas of cultivation for crops.
It is still being extended.
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A picture of civilian labour turning up for work, or maybe
going home. At first I thought it was located at Sabratha, where there is a
very similar church, but having recently looked at photos from that area
I’m now sure it isn’t Sabratha so perhaps a reader may be able to give a
location.
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